Filmmaker Has Raised $500,000

Cast Pay Issue May Be Arbitrated, Guild Says

SUFFOLK — Filmway Production Inc., the production arm of Atlantic Film Studio, has raised $500,000 needed to complete the filming of the movie "Scared Silly," a company director said Tuesday.

The production of the company's first full-length movie was plagued by financial trouble early in its filming and shut down Dec. 15 after money ran out. Grievances from actors and support crews were filed with the Screen Actors Guild and the state attorney general's office. While the attorney general's office plans to take no action, the Screen Actors Guild and Filmway Production are likely to enter arbitration if a dispute over pay is not settled today.

The cost of "Scared Silly" - a comedy that parodies horror films and stars Jerry Orbach, Carlos Cervantes, Morgan Brittany and Patrick Macnee - will be about $2.5 million, said Filmway president Richard Marten. Marten, along with his father, Albert Marten, runs Atlantic Film Studios and is developing a 900-acre residential and commercial subdivision surrounding the studio.

The finances for the remainder of the filming will be secured this week, Richard Marten said.

"If that includes all the back payments to actors, we congratulate them and wish them luck," said guild spokesman Mark Locher in Los Angeles. The guild represents more than 72,000 actors, including those in "Scared Silly."

According to Marten, the unpaid actors are due about $30,000. Meanwhile, a $67,000 security bond was distributed to the 15 principal actors in the movie. A security bond is normal procedure with guild actors and covers at least half of what the actors are to be paid.

"As far as we're concerned, the Screen Actors Guild problem is fictitious," Marten said. "They're doing a fine job representing their actors, but the amount outstanding is not that much."

Locher would not comment on the amount the actors are still owed. "The Screen Actors Guild never discusses that," he said.

The dispute between the guild and Filmway also centers on the type of contracts several actors have. The guild says that some of the actors have "pay or play" contracts - contracts that must be honored regardless of whether the actor appears in the film. Marten, however, disagrees with that, saying there are no pay or play contracts with the actors in the movie.

Pre-production of the movie is scheduled to start up next week, and filming shortly after that, Marten said.

Production of the second Filmway project, "Stray Kids," starring Eli Wallach and his wife and child, is scheduled to start May 1.